Azure Weekly Newsletter Issue #402

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@HowardvRooijen | @endjin

AI + Machine Learning

Covering: Anomaly detector, Azure Bot Service, Azure Machine Learning, Azure Open Datasets, Bing APIs, Cognitive Services, Computer Vision, Content moderator, Custom vision, Data Science Virtual Machines, Face, Form Recogniser, Immersive Reader, Ink Recogniser, Language Understanding (LUIS), Machine Learning Studio, Microsoft Genomics, ML.NET, Personaliser, Project Cortex, QnA Maker, Speaker Recognition, Speech-to-Text, Speech translation, Text Analytics, Text to Speech , Translator Speech, Translator Text

• The Azure Updates Team talks about Azure Machine Learning - Generally availability updates for January 2023
• On the Azure blog, Eric Boyd (@eric_boyd) writes about General availability of Azure OpenAI Service expands access to large, advanced AI models with added enterprise benefits
• Carlotta Castelluccio discusses Azure OpenAI is now generally available
• Kurt Mackie (@kurmac) discusses Azure OpenAI Service Commercially Launched
• On the Azure Medium blog, Valentina Alto discusses Azure OpenAI Playground
• The Azure Updates Team announces Azure Machine Learning - Public preview announcements for January 2023
• On the Azure blog, Jessica Hawk explains how to What's new in Azure Data & AI: Empowering retailers to streamline operations and accelerate time to value
• Kate Baroni writes about Six Security Considerations for Machine Learning Solutions
• Qinying Liao writes Azure Neural TTS now available on devices for disconnected and hybrid scenarios
• On The New Stack, Richard MacManus writes How Ray, a Distributed AI Framework, Helps Power ChatGPT
• Freek Berson (@fberson) investigates ChatGPT to author Bicep templates

Analytics

Covering: Apache Spark for HDInsight, Apache Storm for HDInsight, Azure Analysis Services, Azure Data Explorer, Azure Data Share, Azure Databricks, Azure Stream Analytics, Azure Synapse Analytics, Data Catalog, Data Factory, Data Lake Analytics, Event Hubs, HDInsight, .NET for Apache Spark, R Server for HDInsight, Azure Purview

• Adi Eldar writes about Plotly visualizations in Azure Data Explorer
• Zack Moore describes Stream Data to Your Data Lake Using Azure Data Explorer
• Ryan Adams describes How to read Data Lake with Synapse Serverless – Part 1
• Marco Aurelio Cardoso writes about Robust data ingestion with High-watermarking
• Rie Merritt writes about Interested in Joining the Azure Data Community Council
• Temante Leary explains how to Connect Power BI to Azure Data Lake Gen2 Storage for Reporting

Compute

Covering: Azure CycleCloud, Azure Dedicated Host, Azure Functions, Azure VMware Solution by CloudSimple, Batch, Cloud Services, Linux Virtual Machines, SAP HANA on Azure Large Instances, Service Fabric, Virtual Machines, Virtual Machine Scale Sets

• Lily Ma writes about New storage providers for Azure Durable Functions now generally available

Containers

Covering: Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS), Azure Red Hat OpenShift, CNAB, CNCF, Container Instances, Container Registry, Porter, WSL, Web App for Containers

• The Azure Updates Team discusses Public Preview: Container insights support for AKS hybrid clusters
• Amit Khandelwal covers SQL Server containers on Kubernetes with S3-compatible object storage - Getting started
• Houssem Dellai (@HoussemDellai) writes Public and Private AKS Clusters Demystified
• Orestis Meikopoulos writes about AKS Review - 2.1: Identity & Access Control - Cluster, Operator & Pod Identity

Databases

Covering: Azure Cosmos DB, Azure Database for MariaDB, Azure Database for MySQL, Azure Database for PostgreSQL, Azure SQL Database, Azure SQL Database Edge, Azure Cache for Redis, SQL Data Warehouse, SQL Server on virtual machines, SQL Server Stretch Database, Table storage

• Anna Hoffman, Marisa Brasile, Ebru Ersan, Bradley Ball, Silvano Coriani, Niko Neugebauer, and Pieter Vanhove say Roll with us at SQLBits 2023
• Mohamed Baioumy describes Subquery returned more than 1 value when open Azure Managed Instance Database properties
• Jose M Jurado (@jmjuradodiaz) covers Lesson Learned 289: Hands-On-Labs: Understand and reading an execution plan
• Jose M Jurado (@jmjuradodiaz) presents Lesson Learned 286: Compilation vs Execution time running a TSQL query
• Hamza Aqel talks about Audit Logging and Azure Active Directory in Azure Database for PostgreSQL Flexible servers.
• Laith Ayesh delves into Read only replica corrupted statistics
• The Azure Updates Team writes about Generally available: Azure Active Directory authentication for SQL Server 2022
• On the Data Exposed show, Anna Hoffman (@AnalyticAnna) discusses SQL Server 2022: Cloud Connected with Bob Ward

Developer Tools

Covering: App Configuration, Azure Lab Services, CLIs, Developer tool integrations, SDKs, Visual Studio, Visual Studio Code, Visual Studio Online

• On the Visual Studio blog, Anthony Cangialosi writes Visual Studio 2022 17.5 Preview 3 is here
• Dante Gagne covers Visual Studio Spell Checker Preview Now Available
• David Ramel (@dramel) provides A Rough Preview Debut for Visual Studio Spell Checker
• Leah Tran writes about New: Better search in Visual Studio
• Jaspreet Kaur talks about Public Preview of Azure Automation extension for Visual Studio Code
• Ira Rainey writes about a useful extension he created: Manage Azure App Registrations in VS Code

DevOps

Covering: Azure Artifacts, Azure Boards, Azure DevOps, Azure Pipelines, Azure Repos, Azure Test Plans, Azure DevTest Labs, DevOps tool integrations

• Danidu Weerasinghe presents an Efficient way to Update Azure VM Data Disks Using Bicep
• Sarah Lean (@TechieLass) delves into the different CI/CD Pipeline Tools
• On Cloudify Blog, Team Cloudify covers Azure Cloud Automation with Cloudify

Hybrid + Multicloud

Covering: Azure Arc, Azure Stack

• The Azure Updates Team announces Public Preview of Viewing SQL Server Databases via Azure Arc
• James van Den Berg explains how to Keep your Azure Arc Server extensions up-to-date AzureHybrid HybridIT Azure
• Venkata Raj Pochiraju writes about Best practices assessment -Arc-enabled SQL Server
• Rui Maia talks about Windows Authentication for SQL Managed Instance - LsaCreateTrustedDomainEx 0x549
• Kyle Bisnett talks about Azure Stack HCI: What's new for Software Defined Networking SDN with WAC v2211

Identity

Covering: Azure Active Directory (AD), Azure Active Directory B2C, Azure Active Directory Domain Services

• Nicholas Kondamudi covers Public Preview : Azure governance policy for Azure Key Vault Managed HSM
• The Azure Updates Team announces Public Preview: Microsoft Purview access policies for SQL Server 2022
• David Giard (@DavidGiard) blogs about Creating an Azure Active Directory Group and describes Adding Users to an Azure Active Directory Group

Integration

Covering: Azure API for FHIR, Event Grid, Logic Apps, Service Bus

• The Azure Updates Team talks about Public preview: Azure Database for MySQL - Logic Apps and Power Automate integration and discusses Public preview: Tribal Group events available to Azure Event Grid customers
• Alexis Kinzelin describes How to implement proactive notifications in Microsoft Teams using Power Automate or Azure Logic App
• Kent Weare presents BizTalk Server Migration to Azure Integration Services - Ask the Experts: Part 1
• Sandro Pereira (@sandro_asp) discusses Logic Apps Development Tips and Tricks with Kent Weare
• David Giard (@DavidGiard) presents GCast 140: Using the Microsoft Graph API
• Mark Brimble (@BrimbleMark) discusses AS2 certificates and Azure Integration Accounts
• Leo Visser demonstrates how to use PowerApps for an automation Front-End

Internet of Things

Covering: Azure Digital Twins, Azure IoT Central, Azure IoT Edge, Azure IoT Hub, Azure IoT solution accelerators, Azure Maps, Azure Sphere, Azure Time Series Insights, IoT DevKit, WildernessLabs, Windows 10 IoT Core Services

• No content this week

Learning

Covering: Microsoft Certifications, Azure Certifications, Microsoft Learning Paths, Certification Pathway Information

• Deepa Athre writes Dont miss out on this years top resources for skilling up on Azure
• Susan Cockrell writes Office Insider is now Microsoft 365 Insider

Management and Governance

Covering: Automation, Azure Advisor, Azure Backup, Azure Blueprints, Azure Lighthouse, Azure Managed Applications, Azure mobile app, Azure Monitor, Azure Policy, Azure Resource Manager, Azure Service Health, Azure Site Recovery, Cloud Shell, Cost Management, Microsoft Azure portal, Scheduler, Azure Purview

• Swati Devgan announces public preview: Azure Change Tracking & Inventory using Azure Monitor agent AMA
• The Azure Updates Team announces Public Preview: Azure App Health Extension - Rich Health States
• Dan Narloch blogs about Microsoft 365 Government price updates - into effect March 1st 2023
• Varun Hariharan blogs about Monitoring Azure VMware Solution with Log Analytics
• On episode 169 of the Ctrl+Alt+Azure Podcast, Tobias Zimmergren and Jussi Roine discuss What is the EU Data Boundary?
• Thomas Maurer (@thomasmaurer) explains How to In-place upgrade Windows Server in Microsoft Azure
• John Kilmister (@johnkilmister) describes How to use Azure Management APIs in C# with Azure.Identity

Media

Covering: Azure Media Player, Content Protection, Encoding, Live and On-Demand Streaming, Media Analytics, Media Services, Video Indexer

• No content this week

Migration

Covering: Azure Database Migration Service, Azure Migrate, Data Box

• No content this week

Mobile

Covering: App Service (Mobile), Mobile apps, Notification Hubs, Visual Studio App Centre, Xamarin

• No content this week

Networking

Covering: Application Gateway, Azure Bastion, Azure DNS, Azure ExpressRoute, Azure Firewall, Azure Firewall Manager, Azure Front Door, Azure Internet Analyzer, Azure Private Link, Content Delivery Network, Load Balancer, Network Watcher, Traffic Manager, Virtual Network, Virtual WAN, VPN Gateway, Web Application Firewall

• Omer Ahmad describes How to access Azure PostgreSQL Flex Server from ADF Managed VNet using a Private End Point
• Travis Roberts (@Ciraltos) discusses Getting Started with Public Load Balancers in Azure

Security

Covering: Azure DDoS Protection, Azure Information Protection, Azure Sentinel, Key Vault, Security Center

• Gal Fenigshtein discusses Defender for Servers Security Alerts Improvements
• Gadi Palatchi writes about Centrally manage permissions with the Microsoft 365 Defender role-based access control RBAC model
• Koby Mymon covers Microsoft Sentinel Solution for SAP Applications - New data exfiltration detection rules
• Patrick van Kleef (@patkleef) describes how to Securely store secrets in Git using SOPS and Azure Key Vault
• Michael McReynolds announces The new incident experience is here
• Curtis Ricard and Todd Linke delve into Capturing MDE Client Analyzer Results to Azure Log Analytics Workspace
• JT Wells writes about Seeking Out Dead and Dying Servers

Storage

Covering: Archive Storage, Avere vFXT for Azure, Azure Data Lake Store, Azure FXT Edge Filer, Azure HPC Cache, Azure NetApp Files, Blob Storage, Disk Storage, File Storage, Managed Disks, Queue Storage, Storage Accounts, Storage Explorer, StorSimple

• No content this week

Web

Covering: API apps, API Management, App Service (Web), Azure Cognitive Search, Azure SignalR Service, Azure Spring Cloud, Web apps

• Damien Bowden (@damien_bod) walks through Implementing secure Microsoft Graph application clients in ASP.NET Core
• Gregor Suttie (@gregor_suttie) blogs about Azure Web app using Azure SQL using Private Endpoints
• On episode 228 of the Azure DevOps Podcast, Jeffrey Palermo (@jeffreypalermo) is joined by Brian Lagunas to talk about Modern Web
  
• Sachidanand Sharma covers Authentication with Azure Load Testing series : Azure Active Directory

Azure Virtual Desktop

Covering: Azure Virtual Desktop

• Josh Kim discusses Microsoft Teams application window sharing is now generally available on Azure Virtual Desktop

Useful Links

• Azure Resource Inventory - Azure Resource Inventory is a powerful script written in PowerShell to generate an Excel report of any Azure Environment you have read access
• Azure Quickstart Templates - Learn how to deploy to Azure using ARM Templates. Over 850 examples in this repo.
• Azure CNAB Quickstarts Library - You can deploy to the Cloud, on Prem and on the Edge using CNAB & Porter. This library provides a number of quickstart templates to help you get started, fast!
• Power BI Weekly - Interested in Power BI? Sign up to our sister newsletter Power BI Weekly to receive all the week's Power BI news.
• Azure Resources - A fantastic collection of resources contained in this repo. Issue a PR if you have resources to share. Managed by Azure MVP Gregor Suttie.
• Azure Charts - Azure Charts is a set of auto-rebuilt charts to keep you updated on Azure changes, news, stats. Public updates, RSS channels and web pages are used as data sources
• The Developer’s Guide to Microsoft Azure (2nd Edition) - ebook from Microsoft showcasing architectural approaches and common design patterns you face when building modern applications.
• Azure Virtual Datacenter - ebook from Microsoft highlighting an approach to isolation, security, and trust in the Microsoft cloud.
• Cyber Security Demystified - ebook from Microsoft describing how to keep your organisation safe.
• Microsoft's What is Azure poster - a visual overview of Azure's services and features.
• Microsoft Azure Essentials: Fundamentals of Azure - a free ebook from Microsoft Press, by Michael S. Collier and Robin E. Shahan.
• Data Science in the Cloud with Microsoft Azure Machine Learning and R - a free ebook on Azure Machine Learning, by Stephen F. Elston.
• Protecting Data in Microsoft Azure - a whitepaper that describes the various mechanism you can you can leverage for managing sensitive data in the Azure platform.
• Azure Architecture Center - guidance from the Patterns & Practices team covering API Design, API implementation, Autoscaling, Background jobs, CDN, Caching, Data partitioning, Monitoring and diagnostics, Retry, Scalability and availability.
• Azure Architect's Reference - if you are an architect responsible for building an application on Azure, or are trying to figure out how you could migrate an application and need to dig deep into the workload, cost, security, capacity, availability, deployment and operational modelling this invaluable resource should be your first stop. An open source project, with contributions from several experienced architects, it gathers data from many different references into a single, useful guide that is constantly updated by the community.
• Azure Table Storage Design Guide - a guide from the storage team.
• Azure infrastructure services implementation guidelines - key design and implementation guidelines for deploying an IT workload in Azure infrastructure services.
• Azure Speed Test - a simple web tool that measures the latency between you and Azure Datacenters to suggest which might be fastest for you location.
• Azure Websites Cheatsheet - everything you need to know about configuring & managing Azure Websites on a single page.
• Data Migration Assistant - enables you to upgrade to a modern data platform by detecting compatibility issues that can impact database functionality on your new version of SQL Server and Azure SQL Database. It recommends performance and reliability improvements for your target environment.
• Azure SQL DTU Calculator - a tool to help you determine the number of DTUs for your existing SQL Server database(s) as well as a recommendation of the minimum performance level and service tier that you need before you migrate to Azure SQL Database.
• Microsoft Azure Symbol/Icon Set - a set of Visio and PowerPoint shapes for use in architecture diagrams / presentations.
• Service Bus Explorer - a free and open source tool for managing and exploring Azure Service Bus(including Event Hubs).
• Best practices for designing Azure Resource Manager Templates - guidance based on the whitepaper 'World Class ARM Templates Considerations and Proven Practices'.
• Microsoft Cloud Networking for Enterprise Architects - a downloadable guide to Azure networking, covering topics such as cloud migration and networking for PaaS and SaaS services
• Whitepapers for Power BI - numerous whitepapers ranging various Power BI topics
• Azure Serverless Computing Cookbook - ebook from Microsoft, including use cases, hands-on steps, and tutorials for quickly configuring your own serverless environments.
• Executive Summary: Enterprise Cloud Strategy - executive summary of the 140-page e-book from Microsoft. Learn about the basics of adopting a cloud computing strategy for your enterprise.
• Migrating SQL Server to Azure SQL Database Managed Instance—A Step-by-Step Guide - ebook from Microsoft providing breakdown of tactical steps for implementing a quick, simple, and low-impact data migration with Azure SQL Database Managed Instance.
• Azure Backup Deep Dive Whitepaper - a deep dive by Adin Ermie and Charbel Nemnom describing Azure Backup
• Azure Stack: An extension of Azure - whitepaper from Microsoft detailing how you can extend Azure Stack to make Azure services available on-premises
• Azure Strategy and Implementation Guide - For Azure users - ebook from Microsoft outlining recommended general architecture and cloud design principles, DevOps, approaches to service management, and overall governance.
• Azure Data Factory: SSIS in the Cloud - eBook from Microsoft explaining why you would want to migrate your existing SSIS workloads to Azure Data Factory and addressing common considerations and concerns. Includes technical details of creating an Azure-SSIS IR and then walk-throughs of how to upload, execute, and monitor your packages through Azure Data Factory
• Parallel Virtual File Systems on Microsoft Azure - ebook from Microsoft documenting the results of a series of performance tests on Azure to see how scalable Lustre, GlusterFS, and BeeGFS are
• Build and deploy a multi-container application in Azure Service Fabric - ebook from Microsoft which shows how to create a sample multi-container application using ASP.NET Core and Docker and deploy it on an Azure Service Fabric cluster.
• Azure ebook/whitepaper resources - White papers, analyst reports, and e-books landing page with an abundance of extra resources.
• Farmer - This is a DSL for ARM template creation - "Making repeatable Azure deployments easy"!